Oh also, during my DVD viewing today (seriously I need more tv-on-DVD, bc I have watched Season 1 like 5 times already!) I remembered one of my all-time favorite moments - when Grayson decorates Ellie's house with insane elaborate Christmas decorations and Andy comes home and yells "It's beautiful!!!", how he says those words makes me SO happy. Like a little boy unhinged. I love it.

i'm pissed because i just found out (because i was trying to catch up on this show) that HuluPlus is in effect and you now can only see the last episode of the show if you're not paying.forked up, y'all!

Oh also, during my DVD viewing today (seriously I need more tv-on-DVD, bc I have watched Season 1 like 5 times already!) I remembered one of my all-time favorite moments - when Grayson decorates Ellie's house with insane elaborate Christmas decorations and Andy comes home and yells "It's beautiful!!!", how he says those words makes me SO happy. Like a little boy unhinged. I love it.

Its really brilliant. The only thing that gives me the slightest bit of a pause is that the eating stuff is a little problematic. Like Jules sucking on a chocolate for 3 seconds and then spitting or buying a muffin having one bite, Laurie having one bite and then them throwing it away. Or Jules talking about backtobacktoback spinning classes.

Also, I've really liked having stuff in this thread to look forward to. I was excited for the christmas lights scene and when I saw it was "That's what RandiJM was talking about! Whee!"

Also, Laurie is 28 and Travis is 18, just a ten-year age difference :D I still hope they don't do it. It would seem incestuous.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

i'm pissed because i just found out (because i was trying to catch up on this show) that HuluPlus is in effect and you now can only see the last episode of the show if you're not paying.forked up, y'all!

That sucks so much! I love when I'm not feeling well and I can sit in bed and catch up with a show on hulu. What a bummer.

Its really brilliant. The only thing that gives me the slightest bit of a pause is that the eating stuff is a little problematic. Like Jules sucking on a chocolate for 3 seconds and then spitting or buying a muffin having one bite, Laurie having one bite and then them throwing it away. Or Jules talking about backtobacktoback spinning classes.

Yeah this was a huge problem for me at the beginning, bc I tend interpret anything slightly about eating or weight to be ED-ish and take it really hard, and personally. And this show isn't subtle about it; it's in your face. However, when I realized how insane they treat most serious subjects - cancer, babies dying (!), weight, and mostly ALCOHOLISM, then I calmed down and accepted that they are not trying to be PC or role models or anything. They are just crazy, and treating serious issues with complete disrespect. And it kind of works for the show. The NYT featured Cougar Town in an article about how alcoholism is treated as something awesome and fun in a lot of today's entertainment. While I obviously don't support the general idea of doing that, for CT it just works for the character development. Can't really explain what I mean. I'll try to find the article, though it doesn't go far into the analysis, more of observation.

Nowadays it’s the heroines, not just the sidekicks, who swim in an endless sea of chardonnay and pinot noir. Jules (Courteney Cox) and her friends in “Cougar Town” tipple almost around the clock. (It helps that her boyfriend owns a bar.) In a recent episode Jules held a memorial service for her favorite (but now broken) oversized wine glass, Joe, which, as she puts it, “was always here when I needed him.”

Jules and her friends are a little like the champers-guzzling heroines of the British sitcom “Absolutely Fabulous.” But unlike those middle-aged women who wore their debauchery on their faces, Jules and her friends are slender, taut jawed and dewily wrinkle free: boozy suburban sybarites who look like vegan yoga babes at a spa getaway.

It could be that the vanity of American performers — or the tyranny of Hollywood standards — prevents actresses from looking the part.

But a disconnect between cause and effect is inevitable in a culture that wallows in fantasy and favors reality television over realism. Or, as Mr. Hasselhoff tells his eldest daughter in the premiere, “You gotta love a good rehab joke.”

Its really brilliant. The only thing that gives me the slightest bit of a pause is that the eating stuff is a little problematic. Like Jules sucking on a chocolate for 3 seconds and then spitting or buying a muffin having one bite, Laurie having one bite and then them throwing it away. Or Jules talking about backtobacktoback spinning classes.

Yeah this was a huge problem for me at the beginning, bc I tend interpret anything slightly about eating or weight to be ED-ish and take it really hard, and personally. And this show isn't subtle about it; it's in your face. However, when I realized how insane they treat most serious subjects - cancer, babies dying (!), weight, and mostly ALCOHOLISM, then I calmed down and accepted that they are not trying to be PC or role models or anything. They are just crazy, and treating serious issues with complete disrespect. And it kind of works for the show. The NYT featured Cougar Town in an article about how alcoholism is treated as something awesome and fun in a lot of today's entertainment. While I obviously don't support the general idea of doing that, for CT it just works for the character development. Can't really explain what I mean. I'll try to find the article, though it doesn't go far into the analysis, more of observation.

You're right and I get that. The alcoholism part doesn't bother me as much, because it seems so unrealistic - the 2drunkcrew seem like they have some wine but it doesn't seem to impair their functioning in the world. I think the food behaviours bother me with Jules but not Laurie, in part because Courtney Cox is really thin. I know she denies she has an ED, and its not nice to make assumptions.

Its a great honest show in many ways, but for me, it does make disordered eating habits look like they give you results. CC looks amazing - at 46 she rocked that white bikini and always looks pretty incredible (I can't even imagine the pressure she is under to look great on film).

Also, I loved that they referenced the picture of "Jules" onstage with Bruce Springsteen in '84 <3

And I just realized that I turn 40 next year, so I guess I'm supposed to be entering into the "OMG how am I going to keep from sagging and wrinkling" territory. But I have solved that by eating until the wrinkles fill out, so I am golden.

_________________My oven is bigger on the inside, and it produces lots of wibbly wobbly, cake wakey... stuff. - The PoopieB.

I think we should kick Tom out of his house and move in, what do you think? ;)

RandiJM wrote:

Tofulish wrote:

Its really brilliant. The only thing that gives me the slightest bit of a pause is that the eating stuff is a little problematic. Like Jules sucking on a chocolate for 3 seconds and then spitting or buying a muffin having one bite, Laurie having one bite and then them throwing it away. Or Jules talking about backtobacktoback spinning classes.

Yeah this was a huge problem for me at the beginning, bc I tend interpret anything slightly about eating or weight to be ED-ish and take it really hard, and personally. And this show isn't subtle about it; it's in your face. However, when I realized how insane they treat most serious subjects - cancer, babies dying (!), weight, and mostly ALCOHOLISM, then I calmed down and accepted that they are not trying to be PC or role models or anything. They are just crazy, and treating serious issues with complete disrespect. And it kind of works for the show. The NYT featured Cougar Town in an article about how alcoholism is treated as something awesome and fun in a lot of today's entertainment. While I obviously don't support the general idea of doing that, for CT it just works for the character development. Can't really explain what I mean. I'll try to find the article, though it doesn't go far into the analysis, more of observation.

I don't think Laurie has ever done anything where she hasn't eaten or talked about not eating and neither has Ellie, apart from the not wanting to be watched while eating which I totally understand. And even though Jules does the 3 second chocolate thing she does love to cook and enjoys hosting dinners, so I suppose they're highlighting some of the things women do to make themselves feel better about eating/their bodies. And shows always show people ordering food and then not eating it because they're too busy saying their lines or going off on a tangent (hello Gilmore Girls!)

The alcohol did/does bother me but not to the extent where I get upset/annoyed (it kinda creeps me out) and really if they were drinking that much they'd all be functioning alcoholics which people tend to laugh off or joke about but it's not funny, not to me but in this show, I can laugh about it.

Yeah it does bother me, with the eating, but I feel like they know they have issues with it, the characters I mean. Like when Jules talked to Kylie last year about her own mother and how she "gave her eating issues --- but i'm 40 and skinny so I guess I should thank her." And they had her try ice cream for the first time, which shows like yeah she has real issues. It does bother me but I guess they at least show that Jules/others have problems (like the backtobacktoback spinning after having a treat) instead of just having they behave in certain ways and acting like that's the way to be. It's obviously not great...I don't know...Maybe I love the show too much to admit how much it bothers me.

i love that they drink wine every time they're together. i think it's done so over-the-top you can't take it seriously (when they have that intervention when Jules stops drinking). and because me and my sister love drinking wine while watching it. i actually haven't noticed the eating thing at all. i do notice (and get annoyed) when characters order something and don't eat it before getting up and leaving...

Seriously Andy and Ellie make me feel content with life. I want an Andy. Oh my god. Perfection. I can be mean if I have to.And yes Grayson told her he loves her! Yay!!!Also a great little gem was when Bobby was putting with all the crepe going through his mind and then he just thought "Darfur" and that's it.